CHAPTER XI.
Departure from Jerusalem—Arabian characters of horses not to be trusted—Ramlah—Demand of the governor to inspect Lady Hester’s firmâns—Alarm of Selim, the Mameluke—Illness of Mr. Pearce at Jaffa—Janissary dismissed—Departure from Ramlah—Politic conduct of Dragomans—River Awgy—Harým—Inhabitants of Galilee—Scorpions, and other venemous reptiles—Um Khaled—Marble columns—Illness of Yusef the guide—Mountaineers of Gebel Khalýl and Nablûs—Cæsarea—Remains of the ancient city—Obstacles to exploring them—Ma el Zerky—Tontûra—Women carrying water—Beauty of the road—Aatlyt—Mount Carmel—Häifa—Carmelite convent—River Mkutta, the Kishon of Scripture—Arrival at Acre.
Departure from Jerusalem—Arabian characters of horses not to be trusted—Ramlah—Demand of the governor to inspect Lady Hester’s firmâns—Alarm of Selim, the Mameluke—Illness of Mr. Pearce at Jaffa—Janissary dismissed—Departure from Ramlah—Politic conduct of Dragomans—River Awgy—Harým—Inhabitants of Galilee—Scorpions, and other venemous reptiles—Um Khaled—Marble columns—Illness of Yusef the guide—Mountaineers of Gebel Khalýl and Nablûs—Cæsarea—Remains of the ancient city—Obstacles to exploring them—Ma el Zerky—Tontûra—Women carrying water—Beauty of the road—Aatlyt—Mount Carmel—Häifa—Carmelite convent—River Mkutta, the Kishon of Scripture—Arrival at Acre.
On the 30th of May, having hired ten camels to Ramlah at six piasters each, and four horses at eight, we sent off the baggage early in the morning, escorted by one of the Mamelukes and one of the Jaffa janissaries, as guards, and arrived there sufficiently early for the tents to be pitched before sunset. Abu Ghosh renewed all the honours he had shown before, and was as handsomely rewarded for them. The guardswere again placed; and, having passed the night very securely, we pursued our journey the following morning, accompanied by Abu Ghosh in person. I was mounted on a hired bay mare, that seemed to have been worked hard, but was nevertheless handsome and light in hand. The conversation ran much upon Arabian horses. Abu Ghosh boasted the blood and powers of his own, a large mare, gray and flea-bitten. On arriving in the plain, the road being extremely favourable for galloping, he was desirous of racing against the mare I rode; and, to his vexation, I beat him considerably. An Arab is perhaps to be believed implicitly on no occasion, but certainly not when speaking of his mare. He then launches out into exaggerated histories of the number of Shaykhs who have bid money for her, and of the prices he has refused; when, perhaps, all her merits lie in her master’s praise, and not in her intrinsic worth, and £15 or £20 would probably be a sufficient price for her. We reached Ramlah at night, took up our abode, as before, at the monastery, and Abu Ghosh made haste back to his four wives.
Lady Hester received next morning a message from the motsellem of Ramlah, saying that his master, Mohammed Aga of Jaffa, had ordered him to transmit her firmâns for his inspection: a duty he had neglected on her landing, having first thought it proper to write to Acre for instructions. It is likely that at first Mohammed Aga had considered her somedevout lady who had come to fulfil her vows at Jerusalem: but, having learned afterwards in what a distinguished manner Mohammed Ali Pasha had received her, he probably wished that his own neglect might be attributed to his ignorance of her rank and consequence, to be inferred from his not having seen her firmâns. Much parleying took place between Lady Hester Stanhope and the motsellem of Ramlah on the necessity there was for complying with his master’s orders; and he soon found that he had to deal with a person who was as good a judge of business as himself.
No sooner had the Mameluke Selim, who served in part as dragoman, observed the anxiety of the Ramlah motsellem to inspect the firmâns, than, considering that his own name could not be there, since he came into her service after the firmâns had been sent to Rhodes, and apprehensive that he had been recognized as one of those who were with Buonaparte in Syria, his fears got so far the mastery of him that, at every knock at the door, he thought some one was sent to seize him, and every loitering person round the monastery gates was a spy. He double charged his pistols, and declared his determination to sell his life dearly: whilst his unfounded suspicions, so valiantly acted upon, almost made us believe that there might be some reason for them.
As the repeated messages, that passed and repassed, seemed to have established a sort of acquaintance betweenthe motsellem and Lady Hester, he sent to ask her what the Europeans did to rid their fields of locusts. We may suppose that her ladyship had not studied this subject so profoundly as she had politics; and the advice she gave was not adopted.
The following day we endeavoured to hire horses and camels to pursue our journey to Acre, as it was not Lady Hester Stanhope’s intention to re-enter Jaffa: but the people becoming every hour more and more persuaded of her importance, and, according to their mode of reasoning, consequently of her wealth, were quite unreasonable in their demands. There was, therefore, no immediate prospect of our departure. We heard likewise that Mr. Pearce, who had quitted us at Jaffa in good health, was ill in bed at the monastery there; and her ladyship immediately requested me to ride over and see him. Mr. B. took his janissary, Hadj Mohammed, and accompanied me, anxious as he was about the health of Mr. Pearce, and more especially as he knew him to be in a manner alone, not considering that he could derive any assistance from the monks of the monastery.
The road, as I have before said, is level, spacious, and through a fertile country, and Ramlah is little more than two leagues and a half from Jaffa; so we could travel in the English fashion, galloping or trotting, and therefore were not long in reaching the monastery. We found Mr. Pearce convalescent. He had laboured under a remittent fever, which continuedsome days: he had been bled, and some doses of Peruvian bark completed the cure.
We had not been in the monastery long when there came a kowàss,[33]one of those officials who wait about the palaces of governors to go on messages, and are known by a cane with a long silver head, which they carry in their hand, as the emblem of their office. He brought with him an elegant Cashmere shawl, which he presented to Mr. B. from his master, the governor. Mr. B. declined accepting presents from a man who was a stranger to him; which refusal, we heard afterwards, irritated him exceedingly. We took our final leave of Mr. Pearce, and reached Ramlah before night.
The following day I called on the aga of Ramlah, to try what could be done with the horse and camel-owners by means of his influence, in order to reduce their price to something reasonable. His dwelling was an old dilapidated stone house, which appeared as if it had been once large and handsome; but, as the place of governor of small towns is generally for a term, no one cares to expend his money on repairs which he shall not profit by. The motsellem received me with much civility; and the result of our conversation was that he promised to do all that lay in his power to assist us in procuring means of conveyanceat a reasonable rate. As yet, new to the Turks, we were ignorant that promises with them mean nothing, if their own interest is not concerned in the performance of them.
In the course of the afternoon, it was necessary to send to Jaffa upon some business, and one of the two janissaries who had hitherto accompanied us since our leaving Jaffa was desired to make himself ready. He had beheld the preference that was deservedly given to Mohammed, his companion, and perhaps sought for an occasion to get dismissed. He said that he was fatigued; that he was a guard, and not a messenger; in a word he refused to go: upon which Lady Hester desired him to be paid, and he left her service. Hadj Mohammed was sent to Jaffa, and returned the following morning.
It was on the 7th of June that we departed from Ramlah. There were ten camels, eight mules, and six horses, for luggage and mounting. Relying on the promises of the motsellem, we supposed themakayris(so muleteers are called) and the camel-drivers were already come to a reasonable agreement, and we questioned them no more on the subject. The baggage was loaded, when their spokesman told us that we knew, he supposed, that the prices were as had been originally demanded. Provoked beyond measure at the conduct of the aga, we declared that we would remain a month in the place sooner than be so imposed upon, and ordered the baggage to be unloadedimmediately. When they found that we were determined, they softened their language.
Nothing is more amusing to a bystander than to observe a European quarrelling with an Arab. He raves and sputters, heaps abuse and threats in a language unknown to the object of his passion, and then desires his dragoman to repeat it, word for word. The dragoman knows the revengeful nature of the Arabs, even between Mahometans among themselves, and more especially against Christians from whom they will not brook a hard word of any kind; he considers that when his present employers have quitted the country he shall be left at their mercy without protectors in it; nay, perhaps he is in league with these very men whom he is employed to vituperate; and lastly, he is generally aware of this great truth that he who bawls is seldom on the right side; the dragoman, therefore, repeats, in a moderate tone, about half of what he has been desired to interpret, and, omitting the harsh language, substitutes, instead of it, some clever reasoning of his own, which brings the whole by measure to about the quantity of words that the enraged man has uttered, and leaves him in the idea that he has terribly frightened the Arab, when no such effect has been produced. In a word, no person need flatter himself that what he says is, or ever can be, faithfully repeated by a dragoman of the country.
The price was then settled; for ten camels, 150piasters, six horses, 120, and eight mules, 136: and we set off for the first stage, which was to be at a village on the seashore, where there is the sepulchre of a certain Mahometan shaykh, in great repute, called Aly Ebn Aâlym, who gives the name to the village, which is likewise called Mharrem (the consecrated spot). Our march was slow, but the beauty of the country prevented it from seeming tedious. We crossed the river El Awjy, a considerable stream, which rises at no great distance inland, and must therefore be supplied by other streams, unless we suppose its source to be very copious. The soil appeared sandy but very fertile, and was highly cultivated. It had a rural aspect, spreading in gentle undulations to the East for four or five leagues.[34]
We reached Mharrem before sunset, and pitched the tents on the downs close to the village, to the West, and upon the edge of the cliff which overhangs the sea. Whilst they were planting, we went with a janissary to look at the village. We found it to consist of about twenty or thirty huts of mud, with a patch of ground enclosed in the front of each by a small hedge of prickly acacia. To our application for chickens, eggs, honey, milk, and wood for firing, the general answer was by an interrogation: “And, pray, how are we to come by them?” for the sight of thejanissary was sufficient to intimidate the peasants, and make them suspect that, if they produced what they had, it would be taken at half price, or for nothing. We were therefore likely to go without our supper. But, when they learned soon afterwards from the servants that we were Franks, and paid liberally for what we bought, they were no longer shy of dealing with us. The shaykh, a dark handsome man of about twenty-five years, lent us, however, no assistance; for he found that we had nobuyûrdyupon him.
We were scarcely settled, when there came a stranger on horseback, bearing a letter from a gentleman of Acre, of the name of Catafago, inviting Lady Hester to take up her abode at his house during her stay in that city. We made the stranger welcome. He was the brother-in-law of Mr. Catafago, and was charged to conduct us to Acre.
I have said that the cliff near the village of Mharrem overhung the sea. A fissure in it, abreast of the village, afforded a small path down to the shore, where, in the sand, was the well from which came the fresh water for the supply of the inhabitants. The building over the tomb enclosed within its walls a mosque, four or five rooms for lodging pilgrims, and commodious vaults for stabling, besides a well of tolerable water, where two blind shaykhs sat and wound up the bucket by turns. The situation is wonderfully pretty, exceedingly cool, and must be very healthy. The coast, for about two miles to the north of Jaffa,is flat; it then rises in a bold but not very high cliff, which continues, with little interruption, as far as the eye can see, from the village of Mharrem to the north.
The inhabitants of Galilee, as far as we had opportunities of observing them, both male and female, were not handsome. In the colour of their skin they differed very little from the Egyptians. The dress of the men was a cotton shirt, buckled round the waist with a leathern belt; over which they threw a long woollen cloak, called an abah or meshlah, without sleeves. The dress of the women consists likewise of a coarse shift and of the same kind of cloak, with a white veil of coarse cotton. Both sexes go for the most part barefooted; and, as their village lanes and the courtyards of their cottages are covered with dung, their persons become filthy in the extreme.
The village of Mharrem is not of very ancient date. Formerly the shrine stood by itself, until the government, desirous of affording some protection to travellers on the road as well as accommodation, caused a certain number of peasants to establish themselves here, giving them exemptions from all taxes upon the consideration of supplying travellers and their horses (if furnished with a buyûrdy) with food and lodging. These peasants were all Moslems. Probably this was the site of Erbuf, a place mentioned by Abulfeda as being six miles from Jaffa, twelve from Ramlah, and eighteen from Cæsarea, a distance which seems to agreelikewise with the site of Apollonius (See Abulfeda, p. 81).
We obliged the shaykh to place guards round the tents during the night, at the suggestion of Selim, whose prudence often seemed overdone, but who might know whether there was danger better than we did. His object was not so much to prevent robbers from coming as to make the shaykh of the village responsible for our losses if they did come. In the morning, the guards were well paid for their pains. Just before going to sleep, when sitting on my bed, I found a scorpion under my pillow. Having killed it, I put it into a bottle of sweet oil, in order to have by me a supposed antidote for its bite: for although I felt somewhat incredulous as to its efficacy, I had had experience enough of the natives to know that, when they apply to a doctor for a remedy, it is not for the remedy which he considers adapted to their case, but for that which is in repute among them. I had likewise the misfortune, in entering a cave, to be bitten by a species of vermin, which in Syria is so venemous as by its bite to cause severe indisposition. It is a bug, called in Arabicdellem, resembling to my eye a common sheep-tick, and which infests all places occasionally frequented by men and cattle, when left uncleansed of their filth. Yusef, the Mameluke, alarmed me, but I afterwards found without foundation, by his asseverations that many persons had died of the venemous bite of these dellems. A kind ofblack beetle was to be seen everywhere on the road, rolling before him round pieces of dung:—the scarabæus pillularius.
In quitting Mharrem the following morning, we went along the edge of the cliff; and, about a furlong or two from the village, our guide pointed out to us several fragments of spar, lying scattered about, of the colour of emeralds; which renders it probable that spars of this kind are abundant near the spot. The face of the country resembled for some distance that through which we had passed on the preceding day, until we came to a pool of stagnant water, about a quarter of a mile long, covered with the nymphæa palustris, and at the farthest extremity of which is a building like a mill. At the other end, where we passed, its waters ran off by a shallow stream of a yard or two broad. Here began a tract of country, composed of sand hills; which, together with the stream, was named by the guides Abu Zaburra.[35]This sandy tract lasted for about half an hour, when we entered upon a scattered forest of oaks (Strabo, xvi. 758), of a very stunted kind, none being larger than a full grown codling-tree, and so distant from each other that the soil was everywhere cultivated between them. We traversed this forest for an hour and a half; and, at its termination, we found ourselves near avillage, called Um Khaled;[36]where, at the foot of a large sycamore, and within about one hundred yards of the cottages, our little encampment was placed. Our conductor, Mâlem Yusef, charged himself with procuring provisions and corn for the cattle: and, whether by his eloquence or by other means, he soon returned, followed by several men and women, bearing a supply of everything we wanted, besides that they were satisfied at a less cost than those of Mharrem.
The village of Um Khaled is the site of some ancient place, as shafts of white marble pillars are to be seen lying about. Its present state is miserable. Cattle and human beings lie in the same stall. The ways are obstructed with ordure and rubbish, and no man seems to care for anything outside his own walls. Much inconvenience is experienced by travellers in these villages in the day-time from the dust which flies about. Hence, soreness of the eyes is a reigning malady; for those who have once the misfortune to be attacked with it stand little chance of ever recovering entirely, since the dust keeps the organ of vision in a constant state of irritation. But the plain around is in high cultivation, and seemingly very fertile. Um Khaled is about a mile from the sea. Guards were planted, and the order of this night was the same as that of the preceding.
Our conductor, Yusef, fell sick of a fever, and was so ill that he could no longer sit up; but, as there was not a possibility of leaving him behind, or of stopping so many persons on his account, he was put on his horse, and we proceeded the next morning on our journey. The road being considered somewhat insecure, we marched all in a body; for the mountaineers of Gebel Khalýl and Gebel Nablûs, (the chain which runs parallel to the sea-coast from abreast of Jaffa northward, to a distance short of Mount Carmel,) have been known, when in dispute with the pasha of Acre, to cut off all communication between that city and Jaffa, or at least to render the intercourse between the two places very difficult. Our road lay this day by the seashore, which, upon quitting Um Khaled, soon becomes flat: and, thereabouts, we met with a party of these mountaineers. They were decently mounted, and their dress was the same as that of the people of Mharrem, already described. They had broad tongue-shaped daggers in their girdles, called khanjars, and spears in their hands. They naturally stared at us, but quietly rode on. After four hours’ march, we arrived at the ruins of Cæsarea, and encamped near to one of the gateways on the outside, to the south, close to the seashore. At a short distance from Cæsarea is a stream called Nahr Kudâra.
Cæsarea is a city of Roman origin, since its Arabic name, Kysaréah, is evidently a corruption of its Latin one; whereas Jaffa, Sidon, and most of the othersalong the coast, are corruptions of the Arabic or of languages anterior to the Arabic. The great mass of ruins, which was to be seen here at the beginning of the last century, exists no longer. The celebrated pasha, El Gezzàr, carried off whatever was removeable to beautify his favourite fortress of Acre. Many of the granite and marble columns that adorn the edifices which he built were taken from this place. The city was of an oblong form, with its outer sides, from north to south, surrounded with walls thicker at their base than their summit, and defended at equal distances by square bastions. These walls were built by the crusaders under Louis the Ninth, of France.[37]
To the south-east angle, towards the sea, are the remains of a castle that defended the port, a small and shallow harbour, since it never could have been broader than the distance which separates the two jetties that formed it, and which distance corresponds with the base of the city.[38]
Within the walls two or three indistinct fragments of buildings are still upright, and the vaults whichabound throughout serve by turns to shelter travellers or robbers, according as the vigilance of the reigning pasha represses crime with a vigorous hand, or is remiss in the punishment of it.
There is still a well of good water, from which travellers draw their supply, and there seem to have been many others that are now choked up: but the ancient city was supplied from a shallow river that empties itself into the sea, a mile and a-half north of the ruins. This river goes at present by the name of Ma el Zerka,[39]or the Blue waters, and flows winter and summer. The arcades that supported the aqueduct are still standing, but are almost covered by the sand, which shelves against them from the sea-side; they run parallel with the shore and with the road that travellers generally take going or coming from Cæsarea. Owing to the shelving sand, the traveller is not aware, unless at intervals, of the nature of the mound which he observes by the side of him, and fancies it to be a sand-bank. Hence, those who take pleasure in examining similar antiquities ought (the moment they arrive at Ma el Zerka, if coming from the north, or else on quitting the gates of Cæsarea in coming from the south) to follow the track that turns somewhat inward, and they will find themselves close to the aqueduct through its whole length.
To the east of the ruined city, which is walled in,are other ruins said to be still more extensive, and to have formed a part of the Roman Cæsarea. Being in a great measure ignorant of the existence of these several heaps of stones, which were now so overgrown with grass and weeds as not to be visible, we did not chance to hit upon them; but there exist, among other vestiges of ancient edifices, those of an amphitheatre which are perfectly distinct. The dreariness of the place, the fear of robbers and of wandering Arabs, are the causes that have deterred many from going far out of their path to examine them. Here and there may be seen a Bedouin shepherd tending a flock of sheep; and, if properly questioned, such a person is more capable of giving information where fallen pillars, sculpture, or inscriptions are to be found than he would at first be supposed to be; for his habits of life lead him from spot to spot in search of pasture, and he knows every foot of ground for miles, and perhaps leagues, around.[40]
Our conductor, Yusef, in the mean time, continued very ill. He had taken several remedies with very little benefit. He was placed on his horse; and, had not his situation, coupled with ours, called for great exertions on his part, he would not have been able to support himself. We, however, pursued our journey,and followed the line of the sea-coast, having close to our right what (as has been before said) seemed to be a sand-bank, but which was no other than the ancient aqueduct, covered by drifted sand. After an hour and a half, we arrived at Ma el Zerka. Lady Hester here rested under a small tent, which was carried with her generally for that purpose, and where she proposed remaining until the evening. This river, of which a few words have been said above, has the remains of a bridge over it, about a furlong from the sea; and, at the very mouth, on a rocky eminence, there appears to have been a tower. Somewhat east of this ends Gebel Nablûs, the ancient Samaria.
We continued our road with the camels, and in two hours and a half more, reached Tontûra, which was in sight at quitting Ma el Zerka. As water was the main object to be secured in making our encampment, it was the thing always first inquired for; and we were directed to a spot about half a-mile north of the village, close to the sea. We there found a circular basin, hewn out of the rock within about twelve feet of the water’s edge, from the bottom of which bubbled up a crystal spring. The spray of the sea (as there was a fresh breeze) occasionally broke into it; but the villagers told us that, at sunset, when the wind had sunk, we should find it to be limpid and sweet, which proved to be the case. Close to this spring the tents were pitched upon a crisp turf; whilst a delicious breeze from the sea recruited our spirits,and prevented the lassitude which great heat so generally produces.
Tontûra is the ancient Dora. Here the flat land, extending from the coast east to the mountains, narrows to the width of half or three quarters of a mile. The foot of the mountain is quarried considerably, which evidently demonstrates the greater extent of the ancient than of the modern town. Tontûra, in its present state, is a village of stone cottages, no better than cow-lodges, as in fact they are. The inhabitants are Mahometans. It has a building, constructed of stone, which goes by the name of a castle; a very rude and modern edifice. The environs of the village are totally bare, neither beautified by trees nor gardens, the want of which gives them a desolate and forlorn appearance. There is a large pool of water not far from the back of the town. The ancient city stood a few hundred yards to the north of the present village, if we may judge from a wall yet standing, seemingly the portion of an old castle, and from a column or two lying about. The port, if it deserves that name, is formed by two or three islets, between which and the main land a masted boat of twenty tons could barely float, inasmuch as I observed fishermen wading across it with ease, not having the water above their waists.
The bucket and lever, a mode by which the land is irrigated from Egypt up to Tontûra, are used no farther; in their stead, the peasants substitute arude kind of wheel, which we shall find, on reaching the Orontes, to be in its turn replaced by the true Persian wheel. Lady Hester arrived in the cool of the evening. Guards were placed round the encampment; supper was served, and the season of the year rendered the tents much more agreeable than houses.
Towards the close of the day, the women, taking advantage of the coolness of the evening and the stillness of the sea,[41]came down, with their jars borne on their heads, to fetch water. As our people had nothing particular to do, they very naturally amused themselves in observing the women pass; but still in that discreet manner which is peculiar to the Levant when other persons are within hearing; and, at the utmost, hazarding an ogle, or a question respecting the goodness of the water. However, a young girl, of about fourteen, loitered behind at the spring, and showed herself to be, although not very pretty, yet very frolicsome. Her light behaviour made her pass, in the eyes of all those who observed her, for a girl of bad morals, and yet the utmost she said and did would not amount to half what an English or French maid-servant considers herself permitted to do every hour of her life.
Nothing contributes so much to the uprightness and elegance of figure so remarkable in the peasant-women of Syria and Egypt as the common practice of carrying water on their heads. So far from giving a curve to the spine, depressing the neck, or in any wise shortening the growth of the body, the resistance of the muscles seems to increase in proportion to the pressure, and much elasticity of action is the result. In some places, the springs are often a quarter of a mile from the villages, and much below them, so as to render the ascent very toilsome: yet every day in the week may be seen girls and women carrying these jars, containing not less than fifteen quarts of water, on their heads, with a natural grace not exceeded by the studied walk of a stage dancer. A favourite manner with them, when seen by men and when wishing to be coquettish, is to place both thumbs through the jar handles, which has a very statue-like appearance. When unobserved, they generally tuck up their gowns all round, showing their pantaloons. If in their best clothes, they are seen with silver bracelets instead of glass ones, and with similar rings round their ancles; with a silver relic case hanging at their bosom; with long sleeves to their gown; and over it, if in winter, a cloth vest, if in summer, one of bombazeen; with earrings; and with a species of ornament not known in England or France, silver rims of mail or of coins which take in the oval of the face from the temples to the chin, and have a very pretty effect.The girdles are fastened by two silver bosses as large as the bottom of a tumbler, and they wear on their feet a pair of yellow slippers.
We passed the following day at Tontûra. I amused myself in walking over the rubbish of the ancient Dora. There is a part of it which seems to have been built on a rocky projection into the sea. Much industry is exhibited in the levelling of the surface of the rock for foundations to some superstructures that once stood there. To the east of the spring, near the burying-ground of the village, I likewise discovered a sepulchral vault with cells on either side for the sarcophagi; and these sepulchral chambers will be found to exist, wherever the soil in a large neighbourhood is rocky, throughout Syria.
A very fine chestnut stallion was brought to me for sale by one of the inhabitants. The horse was made to exhibit his different paces before me, and I was willing to purchase him at the price at which he was offered, which was 315 piasters, or about £15: but Hadj Mohammed, the janissary, considered it too much, and I therefore declined the offer.
We were now approaching fast to Acre, and it seemed that Lady Hester’s coming had excited much curiosity there. The shaykh of Tontûra, accompanied by six horsemen, solicited permission to escort her to the next town; for the pasha, his master, he said, would surely reprimand him if he were wanting in respect to so illustrious a person, whom they werecharged to receive with all the honours their means allowed of. Accordingly, on the following morning, well armed and mounted, they took the lead in the van of the cavalcade, along a smooth road.
The slip of land between the mountains and the coast still continued to narrow. There is a chain of rocky hills which is seen from the road, and which at first seems to be the foot of the lofty mountains in the background; but behind it will be found another valley, running from Tontûra up as far as Mount Carmel. Our path wound between low shrubs, which gave it sometimes the appearance of a serpentine walk in a garden. After about one hour’s riding, the shaykh and myself hurried on in order to mark out a proper spot for our encampment.
Aatlýt, the place to which we were going, had been in sight from the time we quitted Tontûra. When we were within about a mile of it, the road became still more picturesque. On our left was a vast pool of water, about which were flocks of storks: before us, on a promontory jutting into the sea, were the ruins of the castle of Aatlýt (the Castel Pellegrino of the Venetians); and, on the right, lofty mountains which crowned the whole view with their majestic appearance. We arrived at the walls of the place; and, entering by the south gate, crossed a bare space, the site of the ancient city, but now entirely covered with turf and mould; then, passing to the north-west angle, we ascended for a few yards a road both roughand uneven, and strewed with hewn stones of a vast size. Here we entered the gateway of the ancient castle, within the ruins of which is built the modern village. The shaykh, having regaled me with a cup of coffee and a pipe, and satisfied himself as to who we were, whither we were going, and about such matters as concerned him, gave me to understand that we could encamp in security anywhere within the confines of the walls below; accordingly, on the arrival of the camels, Lady Hester having stopped, as usual, on the road, the tents were pitched, and everything was made comfortable for the night.
Thus far, the sea-coast of Syria (wherever we had seen it) has, generally speaking, a sandy strand; but from Aatlýt northward to Latakia it is rocky, with the exception of the deep bays, such as that of Acre.
Aatlýt was once a considerable city.[42]The ancient walls are still standing, and are built of rustic stones of a vast size. They have no battlements or embrasures.[43]Facing the site of the city is a small inlet of the sea, enclosed to the south by the city wall, and to the north by the small promontory on which the modern village stands. Close to the strandis a well, from which the present inhabitants drink. Round the walls was anciently a ditch, probably filled from the lake which has been mentioned as existing to the south of the place. Within the walls of the present village are many fragments of columns scattered about. There is likewise part of a beautiful church still standing, attributed to the Venetians. The mud cottages in the midst of the ruins demonstrate forcibly the decline of the arts under the Turks; for the walls are composed of such rubbish as lies scattered on the ground, cemented with common mould.
The shaykh of Aatlýt at this time was brother to the shaykh of Hartha, a district of which I shall speak presently. Nothing happened to disturb the tranquillity of the night, excepting the molestation caused by musquitoes, which, as the weather was become exceedingly hot, rendered it impossible to sleep without a musquito net.
Our road was now no longer considered insecure. On the following morning we departed for Häyfa.[44]As we advanced along the seashore, the mountain on our right drew nearer and nearer. The plain was well cultivated. About two leagues from Aatlýt, on thismountain, we perceived a village, distinguished by a white building near to it, which was thejamâor mosque of the inhabitants, who are Mahometans. On inquiry, the camel-driver gave it the name of Tooty.[45]
In about four hours’ time we arrived at the promontory of Mount Carmel, where the flat land, which had hitherto continued along the seashore, comes to a point, leaving just room enough at the foot of the precipice to pass round. Beyond it the spacious bay of Acre opened upon our view, and the mountains again receded some leagues inland: for Mount Carmel runs E. and W., and the mountains which we had observed on our right, extending N. and S. parallel to the seashore, seem as if they issued from its side. What is called Mount Carmel by Europeans is a part of a district which goes by the name of Beled Hartha, comprehending the mountain and plain from Häyfa down to Mharrem. This district was commanded by Shaykh Messâd, a man of ancient family in these parts, and who resided at Yethem, his principal burgh.
The road, after passing the foot of the promontory, turns to the right or E. over a level and well cultivated soil of a fine black mould. One hour more brought us to the gate of Häyfa. Our conductor, Yusef, accompanied me to the governor, who, whenhe learned our business, immediately gave orders to his people to see that we were provided with what we wanted. The tents were pitched close to the W. gate, on a plot of sand by the sea-side beneath the shade of some fig-trees. The heat was excessive. There were two or three of the poor inhabitants who spoke Italian, and who, for a trifle, made themselves useful in what we wanted.
Häyfa is a walled town; but the mountain rises at the back of it so steep and rapidly as to enable a person, at half pistol-shot distance, to look down into the courtyards of the houses. It consists of one long street, with a few shops, and derives its principal traffic from vessels that anchor in the bay. The bay, although open to the W., is considered one of the most secure in all Syria, and, as Acre has but a small and very shallow port, all European vessels bound thither ride at Häyfa. It is of a semicircular form. Acre is plainly distinguishable across it. There was a monastery, if a house of two or three rooms can be so named. One Carmelite priest was residing there: but the monastery, where that order of cenobites flourished, is on the promontory itself. It was much damaged by the French during their invasion of Syria, and has since been rebuilt on a very extensive plan. In the summer months, several European and other families resort thither for the benefit of the air, which, as in other elevated situations, is preferred to the low, hot, and contaminated atmosphere of Acre.Half down the promontory is a large grotto or cave, hewn out of the rock, and said to have been a hiding-place of St. Elias. Häyfa has a mosque, and a building called a castle. The town walls are thin, and only sufficient to secure the inhabitants from Bedouin Arabs, or other enemies who have no artillery. At nightfall guards were placed around our encampment.
On the following day Mr. B. and myself, accompanied by one of the Mamelukes, set off early to announce Lady Hester’s approach to Mr. Catafago, to whose house, as we have mentioned above, she had been invited. Her ladyship and the luggage were to follow us later. We traversed the town of Häyfa, and, going out at the eastern gate, crossed a Turkish burying-ground: then, following the sands of the seashore, we pursued an E. and by N. and then a Northerly direction. In about an hour we came to a river, which we forded. It is called in ArabicMkutta(the Kishon[46]of the Bible); in the summer an inconsiderable stream, but in the winter a dangerous torrent, as is the case with most of the rivers of Syria. To the right of us were sand hillocks which obstructed the view, and prevented us from observing the face of the country in the interior, but which, we were informed, consisted of fertile plains. The mountains seemed to be four or five leagues off.
We had not proceeded a great way farther whenwe met two young gentlemen mounted on beautiful Arabian mares and followed by a groom, who made themselves known to us as the son[47]and nephew of Mr. Catafago, come to meet us. As they were lively boys and good riders, they continually exhibited their skill, in the Eastern way, by starting forth from the party on a sudden at a full gallop, and then by pulling up as suddenly. From the violence of this exercise, their horses’ mouths were besmeared with a mixture of blood and foam, whilst their sides were gashed with the cuts of the stirrups. This seemingly cruel practice is common, and passes unnoticed.
We soon beheld the palm-trees of Acre, rising above the walls. A quarter of an hour before reaching Acre, we forded a second river, called in Arabic El Naâmány,[48]whose source is from a lake some miles inland, called in d’Anville’s map Cenderia Palus. Our direction had been N. W.; and, after fording the river, became W. A burying-ground, with its white grave-stones, was, as is usual, the first thing we encountered in the suburbs; then skeletons of horses and asses and camels, whose carcases had been dragged a small distance from the town to be devouredby the dogs.[49]These animals would not let us pass peaceably, as if apprehensive that we should rob them of their carrion. The road seemed much frequented, as loaded camels and asses in numbers were going out and in; which appearance of bustle was afterwards accounted for by the circumstance that Acre has but one gate. We entered it before noon. Many well dressed Turks, seated under the gateway, demonstrated the presence of a Pasha. About two hundred yards farther on we passed through a second gateway; and, entering into some narrow and badly paved streets, where our heads were every moment in danger of striking against the frames of the matting, which is suspended over the shops for the sake of shade, we arrived at a quadrangular court, in which was Mr. Catafago’s house, considered, as we afterwards learned, one of the best in Acre.
The friendly and hospitable reception which that gentleman and his lady gave us was highly pleasing. When Lady Hester arrived in the evening, it was repeated to her with increased warmth, and was succeeded by offers of service, which, however dependent on received usages of civility and good breeding, set the courteousness of the Syrian Christians in a most favourable light.